Old Model vs. New Model

Seth Godin recently spoke to country radio broadcasters at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. During his keynote address, he compared the "old way" of doing business and the "new way." The Old model – finding customers for our products. The New model – finding products for our customers. Now, if you're already a Godin fan then you know that he says profound things like this all the time. But when I really analyzed this statement, I realized how true it really is for the radio/new media world we are evolving in. I think back even just ten years ago as a Program Director and how the ultimate goal was to constantly find ways to grow cume(finding customers for our products). In 2009, as a P.D. I am a content/service provider who's daily challenge is increasingly becoming creating compelling content and then using every media source at my disposal to "push" it to my customers. The radio stations and Program Directors that will survive in the new media world will be the ones who adopt this philosophy in their daily approach to the operation of their station.